1971 School Magazine

5r'* S{"i;*u trip fo Suniggi*' J{*l*, a4*g*'t, lg\l Saturday, 14th August dawned clear and sunny buiat 6.30 in the morning none of the twen-ty in our I'"'- t.aoine for the snow fields was really awake 3"o,inft to rfuster this fact. Brisbane airport looked f*r i aisutt.i area with bags, girls, parents of the il.-C.C.S. tour and other insignificant -travellers *ritinn to leave for Sydney' At last our flight was "ailed "and we filed silently on to the plane leaving some slightly apprehensive parents behind' 'Little One'; Helen Bligh, 'Speed?', "Mr. Salzman-Whiskers','Cathy Ralston-Grandma or Speedy'-(She was one extreme oi the other). The night life down there was absolutely temendous-every night we were treated by certain members of our tour to an hour of musical repetoire which consisted of "Chop-Sticks, Heart and Soul, Chop-Sticks".

By the middle of the week we wlle beginning to sort out the skiers and the fallers' The skiers being anyone who could remain standing for longer than ten minutes, and into this group must go our star skier-Cathy Ralston (who, everyone else hang your heads in shame, fell over twice during the whole week). I'm quite sure that the gymnasts would have been' amazed at the variety of falls-face first, sideways, backwards, you name it, we did it..lt even got to i point wheie Herbie remarked: "You're ialling much better, my dear, much better"l !Y now our li"st of casualties had grown-Mandy with her leg, Michele Jones-broken wrist, Sue Arbuckle-sprained les and then on Thursday Jo Aitken broke the caitiluge in her knee. Meanwhile everyone else had used about two tubes of "Dencorub". Our last night at the 'Coachman' was certainly our most thrilling. First we had a talk by Casper, the Friendly Ranger (no, I'm not joking) then we-had a Fancy bress Parade with first prae gotng to Nelma Groul for "Anyone for Tennis" and second prize to Jo Wilson for A1 Capone's grrlfriend. Then to 9ap lucJi a thrilling night we had two films through which everyone blissfully slePt.

Within minutes (or so it seemed) we arrived in Svdnev and three hours later we had boarded another Iiu* i,o"na for Cooma, and it was this trip which Ir"".a not quite as comfortable for some as for Sitr.rr . . . At'Cooma we boarded a bus. Finally about ;;;;; ;.-. we arrived at "The Royal Coachman Inn" uii*lggint. From the beginning you could tell how nteat efrrvthing was going to be-especially when we ilere told ther-e was-ons four-bed bedroom for 20 feople. But, eventually even that little difficulty was ironed out. Outside-it was like a fairy land-everything was oure white as far as the eye could see- with vivid iolashes of colour from skiers on the slopes. However bv Sundav afternoon the illusion had been shattered (ihe hard'way-falling) by our first ski lesson. There were two instiuctors-Eric (who was later replaced by Herbie-reasons for this are unknown but there were strong reports concerning a nervous breakdown) and Walte-r, and we divided into two groups to begin lessons. Nearly everyone was confident at the beginning especially about dying! And Mr. Salzman became .*it.m.iy concerned after discovering that skis don't have brakes-but he finally decided falling was as good a way as any to'stop, even if more painful. But [e was not the only one, for by the end ofthat lesson everyone was convinced that the whole earth hates you-it's always the hardest place on which you have to fall. On Monday, we had our first (of many) casualties, Mandy Mawson hurt her leg and consequently could not ski for the rest of the trip (secretly I think some envied her). We attempted tobogganing only once-it was fun whizzing down the slopes covered in ice except when the tobSggan left you behind and you were forced to follow -UefrinA-cfngng in fear! Our lessons progressed and we became more adventurous-going on fugher slopes each day. But somehow the higher you 'ient the more holes and trees there were-it's amazing how those things get in your way! And of course -we never did anylhing in a small way-when we piled up-we piled 6 or 7 high! During the week we got to know Herbie and Walter better and they got to know us but somehow in translation from English to their Cerman our names altered-some outstanding examples were: Merym Mackenzie,

Next morning we were up and eager to be o-ff-but we need not have hurried. The plane trip to Sydney was worse than coming because we were caught in a violent hailstorm-then we had a six hour wait for our plane to Brisbane. Finally we arrived back in Brisbane lnd limping or being carried by hetping^ friends we hobbled'acr-oss the taimac to our waiting families' Michele Jones' VA

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